Our Hero, Balthazar is a comedy-drama about the dangers of misguided friendship. It follows Jaeden Martell as Balthazar, a socially awkward and wealthy teenager, who believes he can stop an online troll from harming others. He travels to Texas to try to put a stop to it, all to get the attention of a crush at school. Asa Butterfield plays Solomon, the online troll, and together the two characters form a rocky, tense friendship.

“Working with Asa was like, ‘Oh, I want to be this guy’s best friend real quick. This guy is so cool, and he’s such a good actor,'” Martell tells Nerd Reactor. “And then being in the movie and the crew being like, ‘Oh, this is a great little friendship movie.’ And that was slipping away the whole time. I was like, ‘Maybe this isn’t a friendship movie, but everyone’s thinking it is.’

“And then everyone gets a little bit sadder on set because tensions start rising between the two of them. And then he realized that you missed the whole thing; that it was never there. And this guy, for about this time, is trying to be his friend. But he never has any interest in true friendship. It’s a very shallow look at that. But friendship is deeper than that.”

Solomon is a troubled young man who loves anime and J-rock music. In his free time, he trolls people online, which gets the attention of Balthazar.

“That was really fun to play,” said Butterfield. “Firstly, because I’ve not got to access that and got to kind of play with those extremes in the way that Solomon gives them. But to answer your question, which is why these friendships are dangerous, I think friendships are based on trust, and allowing you to be your true self with someone.”

About Our Hero, Balthazar

Synopsis: Eager to impress his activist crush, a wealthy New York teenager follows an online connection to Texas, where he’s convinced he can stop an act of extreme violence.

The film is directed by Oscar Boyson and written by Oscar Boyson and Ricky Camilleri.

It’s produced by Oscar Boyson, Ricky Camilleri, Jon Wroblewski, David Duque-Estrada, Miles Skinner, Alex Hughes, and Jaeden Martell.

Joining Jaeden Martell and Asa Butterfield are Chris Bauer, Jennifer Ehle, Anna Baryshnikov, Noah Centineo, Becky Ann Baker, Avan Jogia and Pippa Knowles.

Our Hero, Balthazar releases in theaters on March 27 in New York & April 3 in Los Angeles.